Try connecting them directly to the terminals of a 12V battery. If it turns, it's brushed.
The other possibility is that you have a brushless motor with an internal brushless motor controller, in which case you haven't given us enough information to help you.
Which brushless motor?
Have you contacted seller of the motor?
A photo of motor, motor controller would help.
if could be as @E-HP says or you could have the wrong controller a brushed motor controller has a positive and a negative input and positive and negative output, where a brushless controller would have a positive and a negative input and three phase output.
later floyd